State proposal aimed at immigration enforcement fails
By Brigid Curtis Ayer
Church officials breathed a sigh of relief as a state proposal aimed at cracking down on undocumented immigrants failed to pass the Indiana General Assembly this year.
“We were very concerned about the harmful affects the undocumented alien bill, Senate Bill 213, would have had on countless families and children had it passed,” said Glenn Tebbe, Indiana Catholic Conference executive director. “Church leaders in Indiana and nationally want immigration reform, but it needs to be comprehensive and addressed at the federal level. Senate Bill 213, which focused on enforcement, would have only made the problem worse rather than addressing the root of the problem—a broken federal immigration system.
“Immigration reform must include a reasonable, legal pathway for the undocumented, many of whom have gone through all the legal steps in applying for citizenship visas, but who have had to wait years or, in some cases, nearly decades to get,” Tebbe added.
How long does it take to become a U.S. citizen? The answer depends on the applicants’ country of origin and the preference category of the applicant.
Family-sponsored Mexican immigrants who applied on Oct. 1, 1992, qualifying in the first preference category, will be granted a visa this month—an 18-year wait. Family-sponsored immigrants applying from China or India only have to wait six years. Employer-sponsored immigrants applying for visas sometimes have a quicker route to citizenship, but even professionals who hold a bachelor’s degree and who are currently employed by a U.S. company wait eight years before they can get their permanent visas.
These examples can be found in the March 2010 “Visa Bulletin,” published by the United States Department of State, which highlights the visa backlog issue. This is only one of many obstacles that undocumented people face in their attempt to become legal citizens.
“People have begun to see the need for comprehensive immigration reform, not because of eloquent words, but because they have met someone who had no hope of changing their immigration status,” said Benedictine Sister Karen Durliat, director of the Guadalupe Center in Huntingburg, Ind., a ministry of the Evansville Diocese, which serves the Hispanic community.
“It’s easy to demonize someone as a lawbreaker until you meet them face to face and hear their story,” she said. “It only seems to be at that point that we can reflect on our inability to ‘throw the first stone’ because I dare to say that we have all broken a civil law sometime in our life [be it driving too fast or going through a red light that was not operating correctly]. And we probably broke the law with less impelling reasons than the causes that have driven immigrants to cross deserts and rivers as a last chance for their families to survive.
“Immigration laws have been broken for so long that we are now punishing children of those who chose to break a law or perhaps were defrauded when they thought they were paying for valid visas,” Sister Karen said. “Children of parents who chose to come to the United States to give their children a better life are now stuck between countries. They don’t know their country of origin, perhaps not even the language. Yet, they are graduating from schools without the hope of obtaining a driver’s license or getting a job.”
Sister Karen said that the U.S. needs laws that will enable immigrants without documents to come forward and pay a fine for what they have done.
“Then they and their children can work legally, obtain a driver’s license, go on to universities and contribute to the country that has become their home,” Sister Karen said. “They will be able to find employment with just wages. They will be able to live without the constant fear of the possible deportation.”
Immigration attorney Angela Adams, who is an associate at the Indianapolis-based Lewis & Kappes law firm, has been actively lobbying in opposition to immigration reform on the state level.
“We need realistic, long-term solutions at the federal level,” Adams said. “State lawmakers should not be involved in comprehensive immigration reform just for the reason they are frustrated with the federal government’s failure to act.”
She said that part of the problem with immigration law is “the law itself prevents people from doing the right thing.”
The attorney said changes in immigration law, which address a solution to the problem, would include: 1) Eliminating visa backlogs; 2) Improving enforcement at the border; 3) Allowing immigrants with qualifying family members or job offers to pay a fine for immigration violations and grant them a visa; 4) Updating outdated visa quota systems; and 5) Allowing shorter visa wait times for highly skilled, professional workers.
In January, the U.S. bishops’ launched an immigration reform Web site to educate and rally support for reform. For details on the bishops’ campaign, log on to www.justiceforimmigrants.org. †
(Brigid Curtis Ayer is a correspondent for The Criterion.) †